Our Words Matter
Published in Grand Junction Daily Sentinel
By Wayne Hare
I have a dream. … We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal. … We have nothing to fear but fear itself. … Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. … Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.
Words hold power.
Years ago, on his Fox News Show “The O’Reilly Factor,” Bill O’Reilly expressed frequent disdain for Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion provider in Kansas, whom he called “Tiller the baby killer.” O’Reilly mentioned him dozens of times, claiming: “He destroys fetuses for just about any reason. ... He’s operating a death mill. … He has blood on his hands. … He’s executing babies. …”[1]
One might conclude that such comments were meant to elicit anger and emotion, stir the pot —provoke someone to DO something. And on May 31, 2009, somebody did. Scott Roeder walked into the church where Tiller was an usher, put a gun against his forehead, and — with Tiller’s wife watching — shot him to death.
The Tides Foundation is a nonprofit that supports other nonprofits, aiding programs that combat violence against women and support veterans. It might seem difficult to find a reason to want to murder its employees. But on July 18, 2010, Byron Williams attempted to do just that. Fortunately, he was stopped on the interstate by California state troopers. A gun battle ensued and Williams was wounded and taken into custody. Two officers received minor injuries. Williams had an array of firearms and was en route to storm Tides’ Oakland headquarters.[2]
What could possess anyone to want to murder the employees of a do-gooder nonprofit? Maybe Fox News host Glenn Beck. For years, Beck had railed against the nonprofit, attacking it some 29 times in the 18 months before Williams attempted to commit mayhem. Beck evidently believed that the Tides Foundation is the linchpin of a sinister conspiracy that was going to lead to the extermination of white children, “seize power and destroy capitalism.”[3]
Beck’s broadcast was filled with violent imagery: "The war is just beginning. … The other side is attacking. … They are taking you to a place to be slaughtered. … They are putting a gun to America's head. … The clock is ticking. … Hold these people responsible."[4]
In March 2010, Sarah Palin released a map showing 20 congressional districts she and John McCain won in 2008. After their congressmen voted in favor of the Affordable Care Act, Palin marked each district with a set of rifle-scope crosshairs and promoted the map by tweeting "Don't Retreat, Instead — RELOAD." One of the districts that Palin targeted with her crosshairs was Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, represented by Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.
Twenty-two months later, while Giffords was holding a public meeting outside a Safeway Supermarket near Tucson, Jared Loughner shot her in the head and killed six others.
And then, of course, there’s El Paso Texas, Patrick Crusius, and 22 dead, mostly Hispanic people. President Donald Trump has long called Mexican immigrants “an infestation” — “rapists and murderers” who are “invading our country.” In May at a rally in Florida, Trump asked, “How do we stop them?” When a woman answered, “Shoot them,” the crowd roared its approval, and Trump, amused, smirked at the suggestion. Crusius left behind a so-called “manifesto,” denouncing immigrants in language remarkably similar to the president’s.
To be clear, no definite connection has ever been demonstrated between any of this rhetoric and the murders of innocent men, women and children. But you know where I’m going here. Our words do matter. Reasonable people can and do disagree. But people who are reasonable don’t advocate for violence.
So here’s an idea: In this time of heightened divisions and seemingly daily mass murder, maybe we could ask our “leaders” to engage in words of inspiration, not words of hate. None of those people deserved to die. As Republican Nikki Haley, Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., so wisely said, “In America, our political opponents are not evil. They’re just our opponents.” Our desire to handle our internal differences in a civil fashion has always been one of the things that makes America great.[5]
[1]https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bill-oreilly-crusaded-aga_n_209665
[2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_freeway_shootout
[5]https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/19/haley-trump-not-evil-915174